Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 5
5
The Department has not set out how it will judge the effectiveness of the catch-...
Conclusion
The Department has not set out how it will judge the effectiveness of the catch- up programme in making up for the learning children lost as a result of the disruption to schooling. The disruption has adversely affected children’s learning and development, with the learning loss greatest among disadvantaged children. The attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers is likely to grow significantly as a result of school closures. The Department has committed £1.7 billion to fund catch-up learning, and has commissioned independent evaluations of the National Tutoring Programme schemes, alongside research into how schools are using the £650 million universal catch-up premium in the 2020/21 school year. It says that the National Tutoring Programme schemes, which are intended to focus on disadvantaged children, will be judged on levels of take-up and evidence COVID-19: Support for children’s education 7 that children are making significant progress, but it has not articulated what levels of take-up or pupil progression it wants these schemes to achieve, or how it will determine whether the catch-up programme as a whole has been effective. Recommendation: Alongside its Treasury Minute response, the Department should write to us, setting out clear metrics that it will use to monitor the catch- up learning programme, and what level of performance would represent success.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
5.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: Autumn 2021 5.2 The government’s education recovery strategy aims to reduce year on year lost learning due to COVID-19. The department is currently developing metrics to monitor this and will write to the Committee in Autumn 2021. 5.3 Monitoring overall education recovery, including for specific groups of learners will track and provide evaluation of specific interventions. 5.4 The department has commissioned Renaissance Learning, and their subcontractor, the Education Policy Institute, to provide a baseline assessment of the learning loss and catch-up needs for pupils in schools in England and to monitor progress over the course of the academic year 2020-21; and are seeking commercial agreements for further academic years. 5.5 The department has a contract with Ipsos MORI, in consortium with Sheffield Hallam University and the Centre for Education and Youth to undertake a mixed-methods study design (including surveys, interviews, and case studies) to examine how schools are tackling the issue of lost learning. 5.6 Results from the study will be used to understand how the catch-up premium funds have been spent and how best to support schools to tackle learning loss. 5.7 The department has commissioned evaluations of specific interventions, such as the National Tutoring Programme, to understand the effectiveness of individual interventions and will use management information to track progress against delivery. The department will collate this evidence to assess the performance of the overall programme.